Home Office written question – answered at on 9 July 2026.
Jim Shannon
DUP, Strangford
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce domestic abuse and support victims.
Natalie Fleet
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department
On 18th December 2025, this government published the ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse; a cross-cutting strategy’, setting out our whole-system approach to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. The Strategy is backed by at least £1 billion of funding across government over the spending review period, including £550 million for victims’ services, incorporating a 2% uplift a year, and £499 million for safe housing for victims of abuse over the next three years.
We have already begun implementing measures, such as rolling out Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, embedding domestic abuse specialists in police control rooms through Raneem’s Law, and establishing a new National Policing Centre for VAWG and Public Protection with £13.1 million of funding.
On 15th June this year, the Home Office launched three coordinated funding competitions for multi-year grant funding totalling £98.5m. These cover: Helplines – national access to support: Advocacy – specialist, one to one victim support; and Interventions for Perpetrators– which aim to reduce risk and improve victim safety.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.